Call me Planar girl, but I have heard some of the best box enclosed speakers (BMW's, Thiel's, Avalons, Wilson, etc.) and found very few that had the natural and magical sound of real music compared to my MG-1.6's. At the Rocky Mountain Audio Festival this past October, I was truly impressed with the Diamond Tweeter Avalons, but for goodness sakes, they should have been spectacular since they cost close to $35,000! When I now listen to a baffled speaker, it often sounds closed in and unnatural to me. Since I do not listen to head banger music or grundge rock, my MG-1.6's provide me great pleasure with jazz vocals, classical music, swing and bebop acoustic jazz. So for me, yes, it would be very hard for me to go back to a box enclosure speaker.
Something else on this thread piqued my interest. It was mentioning that long time and devoted Sound Lab devotee, Albert Porter, had recently gone from his beloved highly tweaked out and customized Sound Labs to Dali Megaliners in his system. I believe this was shared to show that some of the finest world class box enclosure speakers could offer some of the special qualities of a world class planar. If Albert, of all audiophiles, could be happy with the Megaliners, it would really show that there is sonic heaven after planar speakers.
I just happened to hear Albert, who is a first class gentleman and a scholar, share with some other audiophiles that his major reason for selling his beloved Sound Labs was mainly because of his frustration regarding down time and how long it took to fix certain reliability difficulties. Also, an individual wanted to give him a remarkable amount of money for his very well known and totally customized Electrostatics. I got the distinct impression that Albert truly wanted to replace his Sound Labs with MG-20.1's but he was frustrated that Magnepan, the manufacturer, would not give him a discount or a price reduction of any sort even with his very high profile and wonderful reputation in the audiophile world. I believe it is a fact that Magnepan, regardless if you are a high profile and well known magazine or online reviewer, will not discount or reduce the price of their speakers for anybody. I think this is great because they do not go looking for favorable reviews or perks by winning favors by giving their speakers away for virtually nothing compared to the average audiophile, like you and me, who would have to pay full price to get their product. Magnepan will not allow a dealership to retailers who work out of their home. You have to have a legitimate store front enterprise. All dealers offer their speakers at the same prices because of the policy of Magnepan who prices their speakers at a very reasonable cost compared to both the performance of their speakers and what other speaker companies offer at the same price brackets.
I have a very strong hunch that Albert paid no where close to retail or even wholesale price for his Dali Megaliners. I want to be clear that this is not a personal attack on Albert, for whom I have great respect and admiration. Just trying to make the possible point that he went to a box enclosure speaker, more because he was irritated that Magnepan would not discount their price for him rather than because he was enamored of the sound of the Dali Megaliners. Albert also shared that he was not pleased on the two occasions, including at the Rocky Mountain Audio Festival, that he had heard the Megaliners and was concerned about how he was going to make them sing in his home system. Bless Albert. I am glad he can get what he wants at a very reasonable economical price. I just find it frustrating that as an unknown audiophile, I do not expect nor get price perks because of my status or position. Albert, if my speculations regarding what happened with Magnepan or the pricing of the Dali's is incorrect, I would appreciate if you would share why you chose one speaker over the other.
